Proposed bill would make undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition

Central High School student Maria Miguel-Francisco studies on Thursday at her home in Lonsdale. Maria, originally from Guatemala, has spent her entire K-12 career in Knox County Schools, but is not eligible for in-state tuition. A new bill would change that. (Paul Efird/News Sentinel)

Central High School student Maria Miguel-Francisco talks to her brother, Baltazar, 2, while studying on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014, at her home in Lonsdale. Maria, originally from Guatemala, would benefit from a proposed bill to allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public schools. (Paul Efird/News Sentinel)

Central High School student Maria Miguel-Francisco enjoys the snow with her sister, Camila, 8, on Thursday at her home in Lonsdale. Maria, originally from Guatemala, has spent her entire K-12 career in Knox County Schools, but is not eligible for in-state tuition. A new bill would change that. (Paul Efird/News Sentinel)

Maria Miguel-Francisco has attended Knox County Schools since she was in kindergarten. She plays the flute, has a B average and wants to be a nurse when she grows up.

But instead of preparing for college when she graduates from Central High School in a few months, she will likely have to get a job to begin saving for an expensive tuition bill.

That's because Miguel-Francisco came to Tennessee illegally with her mother when she was 4 years old, making her ineligible to receive in-state tuition.

New legislation, however, could change that for students like Miguel-Francisco.

"These children want an education, and they're struggling enough as it is," said state Sen. Todd Gardenhire,a Republican in his first term. "When they know off the bat they can't go any further, what they usually say is ‘Why go any further?'"

Senate Bill 1951 would allow high-achieving undocumented students who have lived in the state at least five years to attend public schools at in-state tuition rates. The bill was to be heard in the Senate Education Committee this week, but was rolled to Feb. 26. The House version, sponsored by fellow Chattanooga Republican Richard Floyd,is scheduled to go before the education subcommittee on Tuesday.

Gardenhire said his bill does not touch on national amnesty issues but is instead a matter of economics. By educating more students, it can break a cycle of poverty and add to the state's tax base, he argues.

To Miguel-Francisco, it would mean she could go to school — likely a community college, she said — immediately without having to pay nearly three times the price.

"If this bill doesn't get passed, I'll be finding a job after high school and saving up the money, that will take two or four years. It's going to take up a lot of time," she said. "I want to go to college and I can't because it costs three times as much.

"They always tell us in middle school that if you want to reach your goal, you just have to work hard towards it, but sometimes I feel like giving up because it's not always that way," she said.

Like many undocumented immigrants, Miguel-Francisco received her deferred action papers last year, part of President Barack Obama's immigration policy change to allow young people who came to the States as children to live, work and receive a driver's license without the threat of deportation.

This nullifies once prevalent arguments about the cost of educating students who will not be able to legally work once they graduate college, said Eben Cathey,a spokesman with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives announced late last month that providing a path to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the country as children is among the issues that need to be addressed in immigration reform.

"The writing is on the wall, and there is going to be some kind of reform to our immigration system that will give our undocumented students a chance to work and become citizens," Cathey said. "We need to make sure we give every child, regardless of immigration status, the best education they can get to become a productive member of the workforce."

Still, others in the state, including Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, are less enthusiastic about Gardenhire's proposal.

"On first blush," he told reporters this week, "I would think I'd be against that one."

A second bill Gardenhire introduced — SB 2115, which would ensure children who were born in the U.S. and live in Tennessee can receive in-state tuition regardless of their parents' immigration status — faced push-back this week in the Senate Education Committee before passing 6-3.

"I don't think we should reward people for being here illegally, even though these students are citizens," said state Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, during the committee meeting. "We're treating them the same way we treat other families and households in looking at their parents, their parents' income, and I would say a lot of these could go to college anyway with the Pell Grants."

Gardenhire said he knows that he "caught everyone by surprise" with the tuition bill. He's hopeful it will make it out of the Senate Education Committee so that he can begin talking to the rest of the chamber about the importance of the legislation.

The bill requires undocumented students to meet the same academic requirements as the HOPE scholarship to be eligible for in-state tuition. The undocumented students would not, however, receive a HOPE scholarship.